Another 46 to 47 project!

[jbcollier]

"That all being said the leak I was trying to fix is gone and the gearbox appears to be sealed and not leaking currently. "

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Watch it and see.

[jbcollier]

There has to be shims unless you are running a twin link rear suspension.

[GavinT]

There weren't any shims on the axles when I removed them. If anything the axle seems to be too far outboard but I can't tell what it is thats preventing everything from lining up.

I think someone had worked on this gearbox/shaft assembly before and didn’t do the best job.

There wasn’t an o-ring on the shaft; that may have been the cause of the really bad leak from that assembly come to think of it. Because 6140 wasn’t present when I took everything apart I didn’t install one.

-I did not see any shims of any kind. That’s really strange. Seeing as this has been taken apart before I wonder if the previous tinkerer forgot to put the shims back in. Come to think of it I don’t recall any on the left side either.

Edit: I just checked this diagram to confirm and no spacers were installed on my car.

No spacers even?
As this progresses, there's a lot of red flags acumulating IMHO.
Given what you've noted above, I doubt there can be sufficient assurance that the ring & pinion is set correctly.
Reluctantly, I think the only way to regain confidence is to extract the gearbox to the healing bench, remove the bell housing and set it up from scratch as per the book.

[DreamsOfA47]

JB I agree with you on the leak situation; if it appears to leak again I'll reassess the situation and repair whatever's needed but until them it'll be fine! Previously even just filling the gearbox caused it to leak massively and so far it appears sealed.

JB the car doesn't have a twin-link suspension and Gavin, what you've pointed out are the same types of thoughts I've been having. I won't be able to work on the car really until next weekend so I'll have plenty of time to research the proper repair procedures. I agree and I think the gearbox is going to have to come out for a proper going through in the near future...

[DreamsOfA47]

Alright, y’all I may have a big problem…

It appears through my manipulation of the clutch arm in my efforts to change the T/O bearing that I’ve stripped the splines on either the arm itself or the shaft on which it sits. 

Has anyone ever removed the clutch arm on a 336? Tomorrow very early I’m going to head to Joji’s and pick up a bellhousing and hopefully remove the arm from that without damaging it, remove my damaged one and swap them out. I’ll swing by O’Reilly and borrow a puller and see what I can make happen. Despite needing to pull the gearbox again I had to button up the car and get it off stands for reasons not car related but now I can’t move the car under its own power and that’s very frustrating.

Any advice on how to proceed? Anyone been in this situation before? JB, do you have any S1 wisdom to impart to me on this??

[RoddyMac]

Unless I'm totally lost, there shouldn't be any splines on the clutch cross shaft or release bearing fork.  There are the two pins that retain the fork and the lever at the cable end should be welded to the shaft.  http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/s2parts/q/s2qa.pdf

Are the pins sheared off?

[DreamsOfA47]

I’m at work currently and can’t snap a picture but there are most definitely splines on the arm through which the cable runs.

[DreamsOfA47]

Here’s a pic I had showing the end of the splines

[jbcollier]

As you can see here:

http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/s1parts/f/f5.htm

The shaft and the arm are supposed to be one-piece.  On my transaxle, the arm is welded to the shaft.  My 336 is buried and not easily accessed so I can’t say more.

Is your arm free from the shaft?

[DreamsOfA47]

It’s quite strange I can tell you with certainty that my arm and shift are splined and not welded. The arm now rotates freely from the shaft, yes. If so many others are welded perhaps I’ll get ahold of someone who can weld and have it welded to the shaft. It makes sense that they’re supposed to be one piece regardless of the method of construction. It’s very strange that mine may be splined.

[GavinT]

My Type 54's original 336 box has a splined shaft like Dreams' but I've never heard of one having stripped the spline.
For what it's worth, it was also possible to swing the clutch fork all the way forward to release the throwout bearing carrier without removing the pins, too. Back in the mists of time it was reported by a couple of people that there's a small nub of metal that may prevent the clutch fork swinging and that this is apparently easily removed. I didn't need to remove any metal so had presumed it to be a casting anomaly of some sort. But yes, the R16 manual states that the pins need to be removed

If Joji has a spare bell housing, that'd probably be quickest.
Alternatively, if you're going to weld the clutch arm, I'd add an additional weld bead extending over the top of the arm so as to tie both elements of the arm together - and also a couple of beads lower down for good measure.

[jbcollier]

It's sized for an interference fit and pressed on the spline.  Given the forces involved operating the clutch, there is no way you "broke" it while fitting the new release bearing.

[DreamsOfA47]

Well I solved one problem but I'm now face with a familiar one. After having gotten responses from y'all and spoken with a few fabricators I did have the arm and shaft welded together. This did solve the problem of the clutch not disengaging when the pedal is depressed! The slightly lager problem is now that everything has been replaced and put back together, the clutch pedal won't come off the floor after it's been depressed and released, which is the problem I started with!  :'(

More accurately the pedal does come back some, however in order to get the pedal all the way up and get the car rolling in gear I must pull the pedal toward me with my toes. Once that's been done and the car gets going it all does very well, until I need to shift...

At this point I've now changed the pressure plate, clutch disc and throwout bearing with new, as well as the clutch cable and despite the fact that all those parts were worn and in need or changing, it didn't fix the main problem in the end... 

Well, y'all does anyone else have any ideas as to what may be causing my clutch woes??

[Richard48Y]

Um, you did put the return spring back in place?
And of course you were sure not to heat it during welding.

[DreamsOfA47]

Yes the return spring is back in place and we were very careful to not heat the spring. The welding done was very minimal, just 3 small tack welds was all it took. Frustratingly the pedal is behaving exactly as it was before when I first encountered these issues and I'm struggling to determine a cause given that every clutch component is now new.